Not Neutered Dog.. Is this Normal? and will neutering change him?

Sorry Grab....I missed your post while I was typing. You are much more familiar with this stuff than I am. That is very scary.....if that cancer is more common than I thought.

I find it amazing that in the US, it has become the mindset to neuter ASAP, regardless of the dog's behavior or the owner's responsibility/intentions. In most European countries, neutering is not widely practiced, most dogs are intact and they have a fraction of the overpopulation and aggression issues that we have.

Personally, if I was in the position to keep a dog intact, I would. If there were behavioral problems I would address them as that and not a reason to surgically alter them. To me, it just makes sense to keep a dog "whole"... as long as you are 100% confident in them never getting out and reproducing (and my dogs have NEVER gotten out).

testicular cancer isn't really that high on my list of concerns (except in a case like steve where there's a retained testicle). it's not particularly prone to spreading, and neutering the dog is generally curative. otoh, neutering, especially early, can potentially increase the risks of certain types of cancer that are much uglier. osteosarcoma especially in rotties (i wouldn't worry about osteo in a chi) and hemangiosarcoma are big ones, and both are ugly ugly ugly, spread quickly, and are pretty much a death sentence.

each dog is an individual and whether and when to spay/neuter should be addressed as an individual situation for every dog.

That's sort of a misleading thing to say... of course not neutering might appear to increase the risk of testicular cancer compared to a dog who is intact - since in a dog that is neutered they don't HAVE testicles so they can't get testicular cancer...

Neutering DOES slightly increase the risk for prostate cancer. So you trade one risk for the other. There is a great study linked on here somewhere. I actually want to say that they found the slightly increased risk for prostate cancer in an intact male was GREATER than the initial risk of testicular cancer, but I can't recall for certain.


If the breeder is cool with him being intact and he is of good reproductive health, then it sort of comes down to what you are comfortable with. It is basically trading one risk for another, and you DO get a few benefits with a neutered dog (like they aren't generally going to respond as strongly as in-tact males when some moron brings an in heat female to an agility trial... ), but IMHO it is something that you need to personally weigh and decide what you're comfortable with. It's a shame some people like to make others feel bad about their decisions in this sort of case... as long as you make your decision with knowledge and information behind it, that is YOUR decision and nobody else's.

I think it really is up to you, and only you can decide. There is different possibly health risks between neutered dogs and unneutered dogs, just different between the two. Rosey is not spayed, but if I was ever to get a male dog, I'd probably get him neutered. Partly because quite frankly, unneutered dogs freak me out (although when they're little you can't really see, I guess) but I mean, big dogs with their testicles hanging running around... just yuck! LOL But also because if he was to get out, I wouldn't have to worry about him mating to somebody's bitch who is going to sell the puppies for big bucks and a neuter is a minor surgery... whereas if I was to get Rosey spayed, that is considered a major operation. Really, to each their own though. If you don't feel like he needs to be neutered, do not let anybody else tell you any different!

I didn't neuter my bc boy until he was 6 or so. He's always been very laid back and lived with a house full of intact girls without incident. I finally decided that since I was never going to breed him, and since I usually had one or more intact girls in my house, it would just be easier to get him neutered. There were zero changes after the surgery personality wise.

I don't think I would have gotten him neutered if it weren't for my girls. I just got tired of keeping everyone separate from time to time!

Also, I'm pretty sure Fran's talking about waiting to neuter him, not deciding whether or not to do it at all.

in terms of waiting to neuter and cancers, as a breed chihuahaus are actually quite prone to testicular cancer...which in all reality as long as its caught fast isnt that much of an issue...BUT they are also prone to prostate issues...(possibly due to being sooo tiny?)...prostate cancer is much more difficult to detect and treat.
that being said prostate issues dont tend to realy come into play untill 6 ish...at which point the risk begins to increase in intact dogs.

in terms of development...chis are quick to grow, so neutering anytime after a year doesnt effect growth itself...
BUT, the long haired coat takes till 3 yrs to grow in, so if you want the FULL coat give him till hes at least 3.

personally i would neuter any time between 3 and 6...before that if "issues" begin to arise, but if no issues and your "being carefull" i see no reason to rush him.

We have an intact and a neutered male. The neutered one is the dog who spends his entire time outside marking every blade of grass he can. The intact one will mark certain places but he's not lifting his leg at every opportunity. In my completely uneducated opinion, 99% of intact male issues are trainable if you spend the time doing it. Too many people use neutering as some kind of "fix all his problems" solution when, if they spent time training the dog, they'd get better results.

As far as the health issues go, read up on it and make your own decision. You'll hear horror stories about what will happen if you leave him intact, and you'll hear horror stories about what will happen if you have him neutered.

Blaze isn't neutered and he's only tried to hump a couple other females that were intact - he leaves the spayed ones alone, lol. And even then it was only like 2 females. But really, I've never had a problem with him humping or acting aggressive. He's a marker, but no worse than any other neutered or intact males I've seen. Basically, he's not like 'Oh gotta mark that..wait, gotta mark that...no wait, did I mark that? Hmm, lets mark it anyways'

We have two intact males, a two year old and a one year old. They have never once humped each other. They do mark in their paddock, never inside. Strider never marks while he is working. When he puts on the uniform he would rather die of a burst bladder than pee without getting his pee command. He'll be staying intact as long as he has no health issues with his boy parts. The risk of osteosarcoma in his breed is much higher than the testicular cancer risk, and I don't want to do something unnecessary to increase it.

My aunt's spayed poodle mix comes over to play and she starts humping both of them like crazy. It's so backwards.

Jack did hump like a fool before he was neutered at a year old. However, he was never a wanderer, and never marked at all while he was intact--he didn't start marking until he was 2 years old, and he NEVER has done it inside.

Jack was not changed at all by his neuter personality wise. If I could do it again I would have made more of an effort to deal with the humping via training and wait until he was 2 so he could have filled out a bit more though...

Our two males are intact... Tucker is 10 months old, and Rory is 8 months old. I'm not even thinking about neutering them until they're fully grown, if I do decide to even do it.

We haven't had any issues because of it. Tucker will mark things outside, occassionally... but it's not a constant thing. He doesn't hump anything at all.

I've never seen Rory mark anything, though. He likes to hump his bed sometimes... lol.

Oh geez... that was the worst. Before Auggie got neutered he would hump his bed and when he was done humping it, he'd pee on it. *facepalm* That completely went away after he got neutered. Thank God.

I have had quite a few intact male Basenjis over the years and none have ever marked in the house. They never marked the yard either. They would go pee then want to come back in. Taking them on walks was a different story. They did want to mark every upright object they could. As far as humping behavior, only one male would hump when I had bitches in season but never any other time. I am pro neutering but I do not feel that every male needs to be neutered.

Yuck! That sounds awful.

Rory barely humps his bed, but when he does I always tell him to stop. Then he turns around and gives me this grin. Ugh.